Sidhu returns from Pakistan after attending Imran Khan's oath-taking ceremony

The cricketer-turned-politician had arrived in India today via the Wagah border.

Indian cricketer-turned-politician and Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu reached India after attending Imran Khan's oath-taking ceremony.
He had arrived in India today via the Wagah border.
Sidhu was among the special guests present at Khan's oath-taking ceremony at the Aiwan-e-Sadr (the President House) in Islamabad, Pakistan today.

Meanwhile, the opposition in Punjab targeted Sidhu for attending the swearing-in ceremony, with the BJP describing his visit to Islamabad as "shameful".

Navjot Singh Sidhu returns to India after attending the oath-taking ceremony of Imran Khan as Pakistan Prime Minister in Islamabad yesterday; #Visuals from Attari-Wagah border pic.twitter.com/zUMRGPSQon
- ANI (@ANI) August 19, 2018

If someone (Pak Army Chief General Bajwa) comes to me&says that we belong to the same culture & we'll open Kartarpur border on Guru Nanak Dev's 550th Prakash Parv, what else I could do?: Navjot Singh Sidhu on hugging Bajwa at Pak PM Imran Khan's oath-taking ceremony in Islamabad pic.twitter.com/BMXowapA8q
- ANI (@ANI) August 19, 2018

If you're invited as a guest of honour somewhere, you sit wherever you are asked to. I was sitting somewhere else but they asked me to sit there: Navjot Singh Sidhu on sitting beside President of PoK Masood Khan in the front row at Pak PM Imran Khan's oath ceremony in Islamabad pic.twitter.com/7Ak2638JF7
- ANI (@ANI) August 19, 2018

It also asked the cricketer-turned-politician whether it was necessary to visit Pakistan at a time when India was mourning the demise of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Sidhu's hug with Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa at the ceremony also came under fire with the opposition parties asking him whether he remembered the sacrifices made by the Indian soldiers at the border at that time.
"Sidhu's visit to Pakistan is shameful," said Punjab BJP chief Shwait Malik.

"On one side, the Pakistan army was involved in attacking our soldiers at the border and on the other side Sidhu was hugging the Army chief. Does it mean he was thanking him for killing our jawans?" he asked.

Malik dubbed Sidhu as an "opportunist" and accused him of putting the nation's dignity at risk.

The BJP leader demanded an apology from him for the "unacceptable act."
Talking to the media, Sidhu hoped that his friend Khan's accession to the prime minister's post will be good for Pakistan-India peace process.

With inputs from PTI

• India
• Pakistan